Why Cardiff needs a Crossrail transport network

The Valley Line Electrification (VLE) project will deliver a huge shot in the arm for the Welsh economy and probably represents the most significant investment in welsh rail infrastructure since the Severn Tunnel was opened.

The Valley Line Electrification (VLE) project will deliver a huge shot in the arm for the Welsh economy and probably represents the most significant investment in welsh rail infrastructure since the Severn Tunnel was opened.

The benefits of what is in effect the first phase of a South Wales Metro are clear; an electrified rail network is less costly to operate, more environmentally friendly and the enhanced connectivity between its major towns and cities will help the economy of the whole region.

The transport challenge facing Cardiff

Whilst the benefits of VLE to the valleys are clear – including faster and more frequent journeys to Cardiff – the benefits for Cardiff residents are more limited. This is especially true for 150,000 people across Cardiff – especially in the east from Roath to St Mellons – not connected to the regional rail network.

It is unthinkable for a UK city of that size not to have any rail stations. In places like Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), Caerphilly and The Vale of Glamorgan, who will have the larger part of their populations served by the newly electrified valley rail network, the average number of people per rail station is 11,000~12,000, the figure in Cardiff is over 17,000.

With VLE, many communities in the valleys will have good access to the centre of Cardiff; future issues for these communities will be frequency of service and capacity rather than connectivity.

For many parts of Cardiff, the primary issue is lack of regional connectivity, let alone frequency and capacity.

When one factors in the addition of 40,000 new homes and over 60,000 more people in Cardiff to 2026, the challenges of delivering public transport in the city become even starker.

So, Cardiff, with a transport network designed for a city with less than 300,000 people needs to develop a network for one with more than 400,000 at the heart of a city region of 1.4M; the South Wales Metro must address this challenge as well as providing connectivity to/from the valleys.

One project that could begin to deliver a solution is a “Cardiff Crossrail” to provide “metro” services across the city.

An east-west Crossrail service from St Mellons in the east all the way to J33/Creigiau in the west will use the electrified relief lines east of Cardiff Central, the city line and the reinstatement of the old track from Fairwater to Creigiau.

A complementary north-south Crossrail service will operate from J32 on the Coryton line to the bay, interchanging at Callaghan Square with the E-W line.

By adopting European style tram-train technology (rail vehicles that can run on normal electrified heavy rail and on street in tram mode), the Crossrail project will also enable the long discussed light rail link between the city centre and the bay.

“On street” running south of Central between Tyndal Street and the Taff rail bridge will also free up capacity at Cardiff Central and link directly with a realigned tram-train route to the Bay, which could extend all the way to Porth Teigr and/or to the Sports Village.

The routing of the line could also connect Dumballs Rd, the Butetown estate, a possible conference/convention centre and provide the backbone of the Cardiff enterprise zone.

The increased regional connectivity will also enhance the “travel to work area” of key towns in the valleys by giving a large number of people in Cardiff the option of accessing employment in places like Caerphilly and Pontypridd via connections between crossrail and valley line services at Central, Queen St, Ely Bridge, Crwys Rd, etc.

Combined with a turn up and go service frequency of 4 trains per hour using new high quality electric tram-train rolling stock and park & rides at J32, J33 and St Mellons, a “Cardiff Crossrail” will attract many new passengers to the rail network. Furthermore, by integrating bus services across the city (especially Fairwater, St Mellons & Rumney) on a single ticket, then a truly integrated transport system begins to emerge.

Enabling Development and Regeneration

The Cardiff Crossrail project also provides opportunities to satisfy Welsh Government planning policy objectives as regards transport related development, set out in the recently published, “Planning Policy Wales” .

The Cardiff Crossrail project provides multiple opportunities to deliver on these policy objectives by enabling a range of strategic development projects across Cardiff. For example:

Rover Way Station

A new station at Rover Way will serve the residential areas south of the railway, provide an interchange to bus services and more importantly, enable mixed use and denser development in/around Newport Rd/Colchester Avenue (which is currently dominated by six lanes of traffic and car parks separating “shed” based retail).

Ely Bridge

Public transport access to the new Ely Bridge development can be significantly enhanced by the development of new station on the E-W line. This can also connect Victoria Park and enable even higher density development at Ely Bridge/Mill.

J33 and Waterhall

The proposals for up to 10,000 houses from Waterhall out to J33 & Creigiau can only proceed once public transport to this part of Cardiff is significantly improved. The E-W Crossrail proposal does this as well as enabling park & ride and commercial development at J33.

St Mellons

In the same way as J33, a rail station at St Mellons will underpin further commercial and residential development at St Mellons, provide a location for a park & ride and significantly improve public transport connectivity to the St Mellons estate.

Regeneration/increased commercial activity in/around Crwys Rd Station

A new station on the N-S Cardiff Crossrail will enable denser development in/around City Rd/Crwys Rd/Albany Rd and connect this dynamic part of Cardiff to the regional transport network. The increasingly diverse retail and leisure offer in the area would also be stimulated by increasing its regional catchment.

Park & Ride at J32/Coryton

An extension of the current Coryton line to J32 will serve a park & ride and provide vastly improved public transport access to Forest Farm and Green Meadow Springs business parks.

Cardiff Central Station to become a “gateway” to Cardiff & the wider city region.

By 2022, VLE will generate above trend flows on the valley lines and the new intercity express programme services to London, combined with a westward rail link to Heathrow, will increase patronage on the GWML. Cardiff Central will therefore need to be reconfigured and upgraded to handle >20M entries/exits per year (vs ~11.5M in 2011) and provide a 21st century, multi modal interchange at heart of the Cardiff Enterprise Zone, that integrates intercity services, valley lines, tram-train, BRT, coach, local bus, river bus, pedestrians, taxis and cyclist.

Extensions to Newport and RCT

It will be possible to extend the E-W Crossrail service to Newport/Llanwern in the east and to RCT in the west. This is a project that Cardiff, RCT and Newport councils could all support. Further extensions within Cardiff could also be considered.

Whist this project is costly (perhaps £150~200M) it is affordable and can be delivered incrementally – especially when one considers the development potential enabled by its delivery. For example, when one considers that 40,000 new homes in Cardiff could secure a sales value of £6Bn (at £150k per residence) then it would not appear unreasonable or unrealistic to secure a proportion of this value to contribute to the overall costs of the Cardiff Crossrail project.

We also have to learn from other major transport led regeneration projects. At a recent dinner in Cardiff, Terry Morgan, Chair of Crossrail in London, stressed the importance of using transport projects as a means of stimulating economic activity and regeneration and of exploiting the land use impact and value uplift that can result around new transport links and stations.

The Cardiff Crossrail proposal provides multiple station focussed development and regeneration opportunities across the city the value of which can be captured to help fund some of the development costs. So, by exploring a range of innovative funding mechanisms alongside more traditional sources, then over a period of perhaps 10 years a Cardiff Crossrail can be delivered.

With Cardiff Council exploring its LDP and a Welsh Government Task Force investigating the Metro Concept, this is the right time to be putting forward projects such as a Cardiff Crossrail.

However, to make it a reality, the Cardiff Crossrail scheme must be identified as one of a small number of strategic, regional “Metro projects” alongside, for example, Ebbw Vale Town to Newport, Cross Valley Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) and perhaps a Valleys Circle Line. By augmenting the Metro’s first phase, VLE, these projects can form the basis of a strategic Metro Plan for the region that can be delivered in a phased programme from perhaps 2017 – to 2026.